Where the Lovelight Gleams

Author's Note: Originally posted at LiveJournal's rs_small_gifts for the 2010 round. Written for deviant_forever who wanted marriage/engagement, adoption, and family. AU - Remus and Sirius raise a non-canon child, potential fluff over-dose, helicopters. You have been warned.

Where the Lovelight Gleams

Louis was crying. Harry was shouting as he chased a small toy flying through the air. That was probably why Louis was crying -- so close to the full moon, his ears were sensitive. Remus sympathised.

Harry came crashing through the kitchen shouting, "HELLO-CHOPTER!" and following a charmed plastic helicopter as it whizzed through the kitchen. His love of anything with a Muggle motor was undoubtedly due to Sirius's influence. A small fleet of toy cars and planes would be waiting for him under the tree in the morning.

"Indoor voice!" Remus called after him. Somehow, Remus had never realised how very loud little boys could be until he had two of them at once. It was so much easier when Sirius was around to be an extra pair of hands, to change Louis's nappy when Harry was cranky and needed to be fed or keep Harry busy in the garden so he wouldn't wake up Louis when he was having a nap.

It wouldn't be much longer before Sirius would be done with his training -- and would finally stop working such terrible hours. He was still making up for the time he'd missed when they'd brought Louis home in September. He'd been just a month old and terribly small. Very few children his age survived long with lycanthropy and having a healer on hand - even one, like Sirius, who wasn't fully qualified just yet - had been essential for that first month.

But that month at home helping Remus with Louis (and Harry as well) had meant Sirius had been working like mad since the middle of October, trying to catch up on the training he'd missed so he could still get his qualifications in the spring. It was Christmas Eve and he wouldn't even be home until Harry had gone to bed. It didn't seem like Christmas at all.

Harry let out a loud shriek and Louis wailed and Remus couldn't do anything but sigh. He and Sirius ought to be sitting in front of a fire, playing with the boys and eating Christmas sweets and laughing in the light of the fairies who glowed as they played in the branches of the Christmas tree.

No, this wasn't at all how he'd pictured this first Christmas with Louis - this first Christmas since they'd had Harry when he'd thought they'd feel like a proper family for him and not just substitutes for James and Lily.

Sirius would be home the whole day tomorrow, but back at work Boxing Day. They had one day to get everything just right. He'd start putting the presents under the tree when he'd gotten Harry to bed and take the chilling charm off the roast for supper tomorrow so it could defrost over night - it never tasted quite the same using magic to help along the cooking too much.

Louis smelled like soiled nappy and it was Harry's bedtime, although he was still full of energy and would probably take ages to fall asleep unless Remus used a calming charm on him. He wondered if that was bad parenting. Probably, but it was so tempting some nights.

He settled Louis on his shoulder, smelly nappy and all, and summoned Harry's helicopter from where it was hovering over the sofa -- Harry came running after it. "Time for bed," he said, sending the helicopter hovering up the stairwell with a flick of his finger. "Into your pyjamas."

Harry glanced longingly at the floo. "He'll be here in the morning when you wake up to open your presents," Remus promised as he urged him up the stairs.

-----

Remus had finally given up waiting by the floo for Sirius to get home. Louis wasn't sleeping through the night yet and he needed every minute of sleep he could get. But he hadn't been asleep that long when he felt the bed dip and arms slip around his waist.

He turned over in the bed and managed a small smile for Sirius. "You're late," he said.

"I'm sorry. I got home as soon as I could." Sirius kissed his nose. "Did you have a good Christmas Eve with the boys?"

Remus just sighed. "Too hard to get into the holiday frame of mind without you there," he said. He reached over to the bedside table to reach his wand and cast a quick charm to check the time. "Merlin, it's after midnight. Did you just get in?"

"A few minutes ago..."

Louis started to cry.

Remus slowly pulled himself to his feet -- Sirius jumped up a bit quicker, still awake from his late shift. "I'll get the bottle," he said. Remus gave him an appreciative smile as he went to pick up Louis and rock him to try to calm him down.

He was settled back in the bed with Louis against his chest when Sirius returned with a bottle of formula charm-warmed to just the right temperature. He'd also brought up his cloak. Remus gave him a curious look, but it was the middle of the night and he was still a bit sleepy -- too sleepy to worry about what Sirius was up to. Mischief, no doubt, but two children and a career as a Healer had mostly cured him of the need for dangerous mischief, so Remus doubted it was anything to worry about.

The way Sirius was staring at him was impossible to ignore, however, no matter how sleepy Remus felt -- and even in the darkened room, he could tell that the look Sirius was giving him was intense.

He shifted awkwardly and adjusted Louis in his arms. "What?" he finally asked.

"What do you mean?"

"That look you're giving me," Remus said.

Sirius's face broke into a wide smile. "I like looking at you."

Remus laughed and looked down at Louis. His cheeks felt warm and if there'd been a little more light in the room, Sirius probably would have seen him blushing.

"Do you want your Christmas present?"

Remus looked up. "It's too early, isn't it?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's after midnight. That makes it officially Christmas morning."

Remus slowly nodded. "I suppose it's all right then..."

Sirius grinned and his hand disappeared into the folds of his cloak. He was holding something small, but in the dark, with Sirius's hands around it, Remus couldn't see clearly what it was.

"Hold out your hand," Sirius said. Remus stuck out his hand a bit from underneath Louis, supporting him in the crook of his elbow. "No, the other one." Remus rolled his eyes and shifted around a bit, making a nest for Louis on his lap so he could set him down, hold the bottle with his right hand, and hold out his left for his present.

"Palm down," Sirius said, so Remus sighed and flipped his hand over, making a show of being annoyed, although he was mostly just very curious.

Sirius took hold of his hand and before Remus could really tell what he was doing, he slipped something around his ring finger. A ring. Obviously. A ring on his finger.

"We practically are already, I know," Sirius said, "but a lot's happened in the past few months and I thought ... I think it's time to make things more official. Past time, probably. If you want ... I do. I really do."

Remus bit his lip. He wasn't the sort to cry like a little girl, but he was very tired and suddenly very, very happy. "Of course," he said. If he managed to hold it together, it was a near thing. "Of course I want to..." He swallowed hard and then, his voice a bit thick, said, "If you're going to kiss me, you're going to have to get over here."

Their lips had just brushed together when there was a sound like a small fan and little footsteps just outside their door. Harry, wide-eyed and owlish without his glasses, poked his head in to their room, his little helicopter whirring above him. "Did Father Christmas come yet?" he asked.

Remus gave an amused but tired sigh. They were not going down to open presents at a quarter past one in the morning. "Not yet," he said. He glanced over at Sirius, apologetic. They'd celebrate this milestone in a more romantic way later. "Come on," he said, patting the covers with his hand -- and then rubbing his thumb across the band of the ring just to reassure himself that this was really happening. "I promise we'll wake you up as soon as he's come and gone." Which wouldn't be until at least seven in the morning.

Harry eagerly climbed into their bed and snuggled in between them. Louis finished his bottle and Remus gently rubbed his back until he burped and then put him back to sleep in his cot. Then he settled back into bed, smiling at Sirius over the top of Harry's head.

"Happy Christmas," he said softly.

"Happy Christmas," Sirius said back.

"Happy Christmas!" Harry said from his spot burrowed deep in the blankets. His helicopter hummed gently over the bed.

fin